Issue
Georgia’s legislature finds that transparent government is essential to a free, open, and democratic society. The state’s “sunshine laws” guarantee access to the public records and public meetings of local and state government agencies. The First Amendment and Georgia’s uniform superior court rules also protect the public’s right to observe court proceedings and review court documents.
In Spring 2024, Clinic students and fellows published op-eds in support of First Amendment freedoms and government accountability.
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Members of UGA Law School’s First Amendment Clinic moderated and presented during the 33rd annual Georgia Bar, Media & Judiciary Conference.
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First Amendment Clinic Legal Fellow Allyson Veile spoke to the Georgia Recorder about the Georgia Attorney General’s open government mediation program which handles complaints of non-compliance with Georgia’s Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act. The article titled “Georgia AG shrugs off open records violations but demands local DAs enforce all laws equally” was written by Chaya Tong and published 9/22/23.
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On July 6, 2023, the University of Georgia’s First Amendment Clinic filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Georgia Supreme Court to grant review to correct an erroneously restrictive interpretation of Exception 26.2 of the Georgia Open Records Act (“ORA”) that governs public access to police body camera recordings.
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Georgia’s Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act respectively codify the presumption that public records should be made available for public inspection without delay and that government agencies must hold the meetings of their governing bodies open for public observation.
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Working on behalf of freelance journalists Hilke Schellmann and Clara McMichael, the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic has shaken loose documents from Atlanta Public Schools (“APS”) that the journalists had been seeking for more than eight months.
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On October 21, 2022, the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic conducted a statewide program hosted by the Georgia First Amendment Foundation (GFAF) to better inform journalists, citizens, and government staff on the rules for court watching, covering trials, and obtaining court records.
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The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic conducted a record number of trainings during the Spring 2022 semester.
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The First Amendment Clinic has collaborated with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation to create a first-of-its-kind guide to accessing state and federal court records and proceedings in Georgia.
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On December 17, 2021 the Clinic partnered with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation to lead training on Georgia’s Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act for town and county government officials gathered in Hiawassee, Georgia.
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The Clinic achieved an amicus victory in Love v. Atlanta Falcons Stadium Co., LLC where the defendant company voluntarily handed over 1,500 pages of documents sought by the plaintiffs under Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA) rather than wait for the Georgia Court of Appeals to likely order the documents to be produced.
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The First Amendment Clinic sent a letter of concern to the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections regarding its failure to provide effective public notice for a special called meeting in March 2020.
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